Mr. Claipeau, a French entrepreneur who has been trading recycled machinery parts and materials in the region for nearly 20 years, including setting up a plastics recycling factory in Indonesia, believes that if the collection site can be sorted and shredded, it would be economically viable. He said it would be much more viable.
Kleipow said Greencore is in talks with beverage bottlers in Hong Kong, the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Poland, the United States and Europe to form partnerships. These include co-financing collection, sorting and crushing equipment and long-term offtake agreements for recycled PET pellets.
His company has developed and introduced 46 “reverse vending machines” equipped with sensors to collect used plastic bottles in Vietnam. The machine can eliminate non-recyclable bottles containing polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and separate and shred suitable bottles.
The number of recycling steps can be reduced from 12 to 4, and the required logistics work can be reduced by 90%, according to Kleipau. In comparison, existing conventional machines fill up quickly and need to be emptied frequently and transported to different recycling sites, he added.
Green Core expanded into Indonesia in 2018 and set up a collection site for waste plastic, which is the most common source of “leakage” into the ocean. The company trains pickers who collect and sort the most recyclable materials and sell them to the company for processing.
The company has built a facility capable of processing 8,000 tons of plastic waste per year, turning the waste collected in Indonesia into pellets, which are then sold primarily to Chinese buyers. The company’s customers include global clothing, electronics, furniture and luggage manufacturers looking to increase their recycled content.
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Southeast Asia’s largest landfill in Indonesia faces waste crisis
Southeast Asia’s largest landfill in Indonesia faces waste crisis
In January, the World Bank agreed to use proceeds from the sale of a US$100 million bond to finance two projects, including Crapeau’s Indonesia operations. Investors agreed to exchange coupon payments of US$14 million for payments of up to US$20 million linked to third-party verified credits generated for plastic and carbon emissions reduction.
According to a 2021 World Bank report, more than 80% of plastic leakage into the marine environment originates from Asia. Better laws would encourage local recycling efforts by requiring producers to share costs and responsibilities, he added.
Vietnam was chosen as the first market for expansion as it was the first country in Southeast Asia to enact such a law. From January 1, consumer goods manufacturers will be required to recycle at least 22 percent of their packaging and provide evidence of compliance, or face penalties.
Singapore will launch a mandatory deposit refund scheme for bottled and canned drinks in April next year. The government said a security deposit of AS$0.10 (US$0.07) will be added to the price of the drink and will be refunded when the container is returned.
Hong Kong is also moving in the same direction. The government aims to introduce legislation later this year to introduce the Producer Responsibility System (PRS) for a range of products, including plastic drinks containers, from 2025. The aim is to cover the costs of collection, processing, recycling and disposal for manufacturers, distributors and consumers.
“PRS is a state-of-the-art system and much better than the Vietnamese system. [which put the responsibility on the producers]” said Crapeau. “The best system is to encourage consumers to return bottles because they don’t want to lose their deposit.” He cited Latvia as an example, where bottle return rates doubled to more than 80% in the first year after implementation. said.
